Good times over at Vandebilt?

Wednesday

May 1, 2013 at 4:14 PMMay 1, 2013 at 8:11 PM

No local high school has experienced more recent success in basketball than Vandebilt Catholic.

Chris SingletonStaff Writer

No local high school has experienced more recent success in basketball than Vandebilt Catholic.Both of Vandebilt's boys and girls basketball teams have earned the reputation as two of the best teams in the state over the past five years. Both teams have won respective District 8-4A championships with undefeated records, and they have earned hard-fought playoff wins to show for it in recent seasons.But after recent coaching changes, those good times and years of success just might be a thing of past for both Vandebilt teams.Vandebilt is in the search process of replacing both its boys and girls basketball coaches.Vandebilt administration confirmed on Tuesday that Henry Washington is no longer the boys basketball coach. Both Washington and the school's administration have declined to comment on the reasons for the coache's departure.Washington had a 92-54 overall record in five years at Vandebilt, which includes winning the last three district championships. Longtime Vandebilt girls basketball coach Kathy Luke's tenure as Lady Terriers coach ended in March. While Vandebilt administration, faculty and coaches were not allowed to speak on the situation, the coaching change took place after the Lady Terriers were forced by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association to forfeit its trip to the Class 4A state semifinals this season due to the use of an ineligible player.Luke spent 27 years as Vandebilt's coach, and her success included winning the school's only state championship in basketball during the 2010 season. Regardless of the details from the coaching changes, it will be difficult for Vandebilt to replace two winning coaches like Washington and Luke because of the impact both have made on their team's success over the years. It will definitely be a new era of Vandebilt basketball when the 2013-14 season starts. Whether it can continue its winning ways with new coaches remains to be seen. Vandebilt officials have declined all comment about the coaching changes due to personnel rules, but failing to address these big moves has only led to more speculation and rumors. Anytime a school goes quiet on major coaching changes, you know something is up. The recent events will be a distraction for quite some time at Vandebilt as the school will have to pick up the pieces of two winning programs affected by change and controversy in the same year. Both teams are losing some really good senior stars to graduation, which include players like Lionheart Leslie, Elijah McGuire, Aaron Smith and Tanner Whatley on the boys team and Shakira Harding, Jasmine Howard, Laci LeBlanc and Sade Murrell on the girls team. After losing such talented senior classes and two proven winners in the coaching ranks, both Vandebilt teams will face a major rebuilding project under their new coaches. Vandebilt is known for having good sports programs, and I'm sure the new basketball coaches and current players will try their best and work hard to continue those winning ways. But there is a big mess left behind to clean up, so it may take a while for the good times to return to Vandebilt's basketball programs.

Staff writer Chris Singleton can be reached at 857-2213 or 448-1200 ext. 2213 or chris.singleton@houmatoday.com.

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